What does this mean?

[OneSickPsycho]

Originally Posted by Crazy

its all semantics... what exactly defines a depression or a recession?

Recession - two or more consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.
Depression - (kinda vague) a sustained recession.

[smileyman]

Originally Posted by z06boy

Ok that would work for me and the wife. We could let those 250 shares of AIG stock go that we bought the other day in exchange for a piece of that pie !!

See my post in the AIG thread...

The only problem with these corporations going broke is that alot of peoples money, their real money for retirement ect. was tied up in these companies stocks. This isn't a case of these folks debt disappearing, but their savings and funds they should have been using to pay their home down, payoff those credit cards were tied up with these companies stock. Some people obviously forgot that there was risk in the stock market...

[smileyman]

http://money.cnn.com/?cnn=yes

[Captain Morgan]

Originally Posted by OneSickPsycho

Fuck me... WaMu is my bank and I had NO IDEA this shit happened... and I'm usually up on current events.

Well, this JUST happened last night...

Originally Posted by OneSickPsycho

It's simple... The government solves a small problem, while creating a larger problem... the general public is retarded so they don't realize the source of this shit came from 15 years ago... so the cycle goes...

Agreed. This has been mentioned before. Our society only wants to blame the current administration, rather than looking to the true source of the problem. I'm not saying the current administration hasn't made mistakes, but the mess we're in right now isn't due solely to anything Bush has done.

Originally Posted by smileyman

See my post in the AIG thread...

The only problem with these corporations going broke is that alot of peoples money, their real money for retirement ect. was tied up in these companies stocks. This isn't a case of these folks debt disappearing, but their savings and funds they should have been using to pay their home down, payoff those credit cards were tied up with these companies stock. Some people obviously forgot that there was risk in the stock market...

First of all, retirement money should not be so heavily invested in one companies stock that the one company would make a big difference to the portfolio. Diversification is taught for a reason. Yes, there are two schools of thought:

1. Diversify and protect yourself so you don't have to watch your portfolio all the time.

2. Put all your eggs in one basket and keep a VERY close eye on that basket. Move it to another basket if things start to go against you.

The first school of thought will keep your money fairly safe over the long term. You won't necessarily have big dollar gains, but you'll make a steady amount of money over the years. Yes, there will be downturns in the market from time to time, but if you're properly invested and follow the principals of long term asset allocation, moving your money to more conservative investments as you get closer to the time when you'll need it, you should be fine in the long run.

The second school of thought can make you the most money, the fastest. But it's also much more risky. You have to do tons of research on the company you choose to put all of your money into and you have to watch it like a hawk, staying up on current events in the company and looking for any changes that can negatively affect your investment. You have to be ready to pull the plug at any time. I've seen people make a boatload of money this way. I've also seen them lose it.

[BobTheBiker]

so its not a good time to invest my money in enron?

In any event, things arent exactly at their best in our nation. I just REALLY REALLY hope things get better soon, I dont think we can handle this kind of thing too much longer.

[smileyman]

I agree Captain, the lack of diversification, the overwhelming reliance of people on the assumption that stocks are a safe, consistent , and reliable return are a big part of why we are in this shape.

The greed of the banks and investment companies are why they are so overburdened with crappy asset value and going bankrupt.

[z06boy]

Originally Posted by smileyman

See my post in the AIG thread...

The only problem with these corporations going broke is that alot of peoples money, their real money for retirement ect. was tied up in these companies stocks. This isn't a case of these folks debt disappearing, but their savings and funds they should have been using to pay their home down, payoff those credit cards were tied up with these companies stock. Some people obviously forgot that there was risk in the stock market...

Yeah I know...that's why I put the ...I was just being sarcastic. Alot of people would suffer if they failed. They already are due to the stock price but it would be worse...much...for them.

Since we just bought some AIG at around $2.00 a share the other day... according to Gas Man's math the wife and I would get a few hundred thousand dollars handed to us and all I'd lose would be the $500 that we invested...good return for us.

However with that plan...the AIG investors would be getting this payout as well...most would be happy about that I'm sure.